The invention, in some embodiments, relates to the field of treatment of body tissue with energy, and more particularly, but not exclusively, to methods and devices for treatment of subcutaneous fat using a combination of thermal energy deposited using a unipolar RF (radio-frequency) field and acoustic energy, for example for subcutaneous fat reduction.
Adipose tissue comprises primarily adipocytes containing fat together with fibroblasts, macrophages and endothelial cells. In mammals such as humans, one of the main locations of adipose tissue is the hypodermis (subcutaneous tissue) located beneath the skin (epidermis and dermis) that insulates the body core from external temperature changes but most importantly acts as an energy store for the mammal.
Unlike excessive visceral fat, excessive subcutaneous fat (fat in the hypodermis) in humans is not directly associated with pathologies. However, excessive subcutaneous fat is considered to be unaesthetic and it is common for people to try to reduce the amount and distribution of subcutaneous fat to achieve a more aesthetic external appearance. It is often preferred to treat subcutaneous fat by the local application of energy. Specifically, over a series of individual sessions, energy is locally-applied to the hypodermis. Such local application of energy over a series of individual sessions allows different amounts of subcutaneous fat to be removed from the hypodermis at different locations of the body, allowing the body to be shaped to achieve a desired aesthetic appearance.